Playing device for pianos and the like



Sept. 16, 1930. J. POELTL' wPLAYING DEVICE FOR PIANOS AND THE LIKE Filed April 30, 1929 w .m 1 6W 5 F 1 A m .m ./1E I m m c a m M ATTOJYJVE'Y Patented Sept. 16, 1930 i v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I V JOSEPH POELTL, on ST. raw. ninmnso'rii V PLAYINGDEVICE FOR Pianos Am) ran LIKE Application filed April 30, 1929, Serial nt. 359,361;

My invention relates to a device for facilioperative position, while Fig. 6 is a like plate tating the pla ing of a musical instrument for higher chord-notes'corresponding'to the having a stan ard type of keyboard such as bass notes and to be played with and in hara piano or organ. The main object is to promony with the latter.

vide a simple, efficient and portable device Fig. 7 is atop view of the toe portion of 55 which may be readily attached to a piano and a shoe and an attachment therefor designed is easily operated to play selective chords to facilitate playing of a piano with my deand accompanying harmonious notes, such vice. playing being easily accomplished by un- Referring to the drawingb reference nu- 10 skilled players and even by persons who have merals, 1Q designates the keyard frame of 60 had no musical training. The device provides a piano,'organ or like instrument, and below further any combination of chording effects said frame the usual front board 11 of the asprop'er accompaniment for orchestral muinstrument but set back from the front line sic in which for example-the piano-is pla ed of the keys designated collectively as K; but

5 to accompany violin, mandolin, bass vio in, designated in" rotation by their correct key on cornet or any combination of wind and string designation in Fig. 5. instruments. My device comprises a quadrangular main It is well known that in orchestral arrangeframe in upright plane, the ;vertical side ments of music the piano music is mainly or members designated 12, the top horizontal entirely so-called chording, generally sufmember 13, the bottom member 14, an upper 7 ficient and always pleasing to the ear. My horizontal rod-guiding member 15 and below device is designed to provide said chord playthe latter a like member 16, all preferably ing with positiy e harmonious combinations, of light angle iron material and suitably eliminating the'direct touch of the fingers on braced as may necessar p o v the keys. Music written in the usual way is 17 are attachment bolts sl idab'ly engaged in also eliminated, it being merely necessary frame parts'12 and having each asuitable to have properly spaced chord designations book. 17 H at one end for engaging a shoulder printed at or near the bars on which the mel- 10S of the key board frame and the parts ody is printed. Further objects and advanof said bolts engaging in the frame being tages of my improved playing device are threaded for a thumb screw or nutis (see is hereinafter fully disclosed and illustrated Fig. 3) to be adjusted to clamp theimain in the accompanying drawing, in which, frame to the front edge of the instrument Fig. 1 is a top view of the key-board of a memb'erlO rigid1' The main frame horizonpiano and my device attached thereto in optal bar 15 is preferably about on a" level with erative position; the key engaging members upper edge of instrument member 10 when L5 of my device on approximately the right the device is in operative positionand thus half of the device being omitted. the 'upper bar 13 is in a plane above the Fig. 2 is a front view of my device alone keys of the instrument.- Thelo'wer "artof and showing only one half of the vertically the frame maybe held in necessary e evated 40 reciprocable bar members. position from the floor by two'verticall'ya d to Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of my justable foot pieces30 (see Figsf2 and I device about as on line 3-3 of Fig.2 or line have now described the preferred type of 30f Fig. 1 showing mainly one key depressing main frame and detailscompri'sing t 'e stamember. Y tionary parts of the device.-

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view of the The key engaging and-playing parts of upper part of Fig. 3 and a modification of my device will now bedescribed, They comthe playing means. prise a series of-horizontally spaced. verti- Figs. 5 and 6 are a pair of harmonized key cally reciprocable' player-rods 19', all sliddepressing plates of which Fig; 5 shows the ably mounted in the horizontal webs, of the 5 bass clef note sounding means actually in frame member's'l' i, 1 5an'd 16.

All these player-rods 19 are of elongated, inverted L-shape, the upper horizontal arm 19A of each extending forward horizontally toward the key-board of the instrument and above it, said arm being guided in a vertical slit 138 of frame member 13 (see Figs. 2 and 3), said arm extending forward thereof and thence down in a vertical extremity 1913, directed toward the keys of the instrument (see Figs. 3 and 4). The lower end of arm 19B is fixed to a key-engaging plate 20 which is held in vertical plane and extends transversely over a number of the keys K.

All the said plates are arranged vover the keys in any suitable staggered arrangement as best shown in Fig. 1 and as allthe playerrod members attached to the plates 20 are spaced apart horizontally and arms=19A thereof of various corresponding lengths'it is obviousthat any number of the player rods can be manipulated vertically to engage, the keys without interfering with the adjacent player rods and plates. On each rod 19 above frame member 15 is a collar 21 and between said collar and the member 15, about each rod, is acompression coil spring 22 normal-v 1y pressing its rodupwardly and into stop position against the top of its guideslit 13S in framemember 13. V i

20F are a number'of downwardly directed fingers formed integral with each plate 20, the number and spacing of these fingers being predeterminedto engage certain of the keys K whether major or minor notes but in all cases to sound a harmonious chord when rod 19 is presseddown as with a hand 27 in Fig. Zbearing down on said rod on its part- 19A outwardlyof bar 13, as clearly shown.

' The playing meansdescribed may be divided into right and left groups of which the left group, shown in full in Fig; 1, are used to sound bass-clef notes and the right hand group to sound groups of, notes in higher corresponding keys and groups. For example, in playing the initial chords of a piece of waltz music in the key of C the bassclef keys G-G, one octave apart, are first sounded (see Fig. 5) by depressing a rod as marked 19C inFig. 1. Then the bar as 19C of Fig. 1 is depressed two times to sound a higher toned chord'in the same key, the bar 20 of the latter being formed topress, for example, the keys G, E, G and C, harmonizing in sound with the bass clef notes first sounded. Obviously any combination of chords may thus be played by manipulating the properly harmonized key-plates in harmony and to accompany other instruments.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a modified playing device; namely, a finger-engaging lever 28 for each rod 19, said lever normally in horizontal plane and pivoted as at 2 1 in the front part of frame member 13 extending rearwardly from -vice. in Figs. 1 and 2 the lower horizontal frame bar 1a is a Z-bar with its web in horizontal plane and drilled for slidably retaining the lower ends of all the rods 19. The lower endsof the rods extend below this web where thepedals 26 are attached tothem, said pedals being guided in thevertical slits 148 in the adjacent outer and vertical flange of the frame member 14: (see Figs. Qand 3). All the pedals will of coursebe in a horizontal row and may be manipulated to play chords as desired by downward pressure thereon by the operators foot 28 (Fig. 7) To facilitate playing by foot I provide a inetal'shoe entojbe slipped on and frictionally engage the sole or a shoe and having an integral forwardly directed finger extending forward centrally from the toe of the shoe, as shown, to be pressed down on the pedals 26. The player so equipped neednot of course use the hand manipulating means described. The operation of my device has been fully disclosed in the above specification. It is obvious and considered as being withinthe scope of thisinvention to make a number of modifications in details of construction. For example, other means for fastening the device to a piano may be used as necessary, the footpedals 26 and the linger operated levers 23 25 may be marked with numbers or letters indicating the harmonized pairs of chord playing means and the staggered arrangement 0f the plates 20 may be other than that shown to insure clearance of moving parts. I

I claim: I

1. A player device for instruments having a row of depressible keys to produce musical sounds, said device comprising a quadrangular normally upright frame andineans thereon for attaching the frame in proximity to the keys of the instrument, a row of upright, horizontally spaced and vertically reciprocable rods mounted in said frame, yieldable means normally pressing each said rod upwardly to a predetermined height, each said rod extended over the keys horizontally, thence downwardly toward the keys, a key engaging platejfixed on the latter end of the rod and normally in position over the keys, projections on the lower part of each said plate to engage certain predetermined keys when the rod is pressed downwardly said yieldable means adapted to raise said key ens gaging plate after eac h said downward movement, and dual manually engageable means for each said rod to press it down and produce sound selectively by hand or foot con--- tact.

5 2. The structure specified in claim 1 in which said frame includes an upper horizontal guide bar normally in position parallel to the row of keys and above them, said guide bar having a vertical flange with a row of slits each to guide vertically one of said reciprocable rods; a lower horizontal bar in said frame with apertures each for guiding a lower end portion of one of said rods, a pedal member fixed on each rod below its aperture and means provided in said lower bar comprising a vertical slit provided in a flange of said bar engaged by said pedal.

3. The structure specified in claim 1 and hand operated rod reciprocating means comprising for each rod a lever pivotally mounted on the top frame member extending from its pivot away from the key board and over the rod, a finger extending down from said lever and adapted to engage the reciprocable rod below it, and finger engaging means at the free end of said lever to be depressed for the purpose described.

4;. A playing device for instruments having a key board, comprising a portable frame adapted to be removably attached to said key board part of the instrument, a number of vertically reciprocable rods mounted in said frame, spring means yieldingly impelling said rods upwardly, a key engaging plate fixed on each said rod and formed with irregular lower edge normally held close to the keys and adapted to engage certain of said keys to produce predetermined musical chords or combinations of notes.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOSEPH POELTL. 

